"According to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory
of His grace, by which He has made us accepted
in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:5b,6).

Paul states this at the end of a long sentence of
Ephesians 1:3-6. These things are done according to the good pleasure
of the will of the Father. The Father has blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in Christ (Eph. 1:3). The Father has chosen us in
His eternal planinChrist before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).
Our Father's chosen and destination for all men, was to in love choose His
plan to be in Christ (Eph. 1:5). Why? Our Father wanted us to bein Christ
and Christ
inusat the Spiritbirthing so that we could "be
holy and without blame before Him in love" (Eph. 1:4). Our Father
truly set His eternal plan in motion, so that we could receive ourFather'sacceptance inChrist.

Our Father loves His beloved Son. He placed us intoChrist and Christ
into us at the Spiritbirthing so we could be a part of the Body of Christ
(I Cor. 12:13). Our Father loves the Body of Christ, for it is the
body of His own beloved Son. This is what this passage means when it says,
"He made us accepted in the Beloved"
(Eph. 1:6). Beloved is capitalized, because it is referring to His
Beloved Son
– Christ. TheinChristposition, is the only position of
our acceptance by our Heavenly Father.
There was a middle wall of division between the Father and us, due to sin
(Eph. 2:14). Through the shed blood of Jesus we have forgiveness of
sins and redemption (Eph. 1:7), to and for a relationship and fellowship
with our Heavenly Father. Through the death of Jesus on the cross,
there was death and abolishment to everything that separated us from a
relationship and fellowship with our Heavenly Father (Eph. 2:15-16).
Christ through the work of the Cross is our peace with our Heavenly Father
(Eph. 2:14), and has reconciled us to our Father (Col. 1:20). Christ
is our acceptance. Allgenuine acceptance is in,by, and
throughChrist.

Now that we are accepted
by our Heavenly Father, we want to let
Christlive in and
throughus for
others. Letting Christ live
inusasus fulfilling our Father's will
and
desires, is our acceptable response as a living sacrifice (I Pet. 2:5). We
should genuinely let Christ fully live the Father's will outworking Hislove-for-othersSpiritand nature. First of all, we will be concerned
with others and pray for them (I Tim. 2:1). We will lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and dignity (I Tim. 2:2). This is good and
acceptable in God's sight (1Tim. 2:3).
When you know who you are in Christ,and you genuinely and spontaneously let
Him be expressed in you
as you,then you will be living a life of acceptance!